The present invention concerns communication networks, more particularly devices capable of wireless dialog connected to these networks and methods of associating said devices.
There is currently an effort to define standards for linking communication buses by using a wireless communication technology. Parallel efforts have been made under the patronage on the one hand of the IEEE (IEEE P1394.1 “Draft Standard for High performance Serial Bus Bridges”) and, on the other hand, by the ETSI (“Broadband Radio Access Network (BRAN); HIPERLAN Type 2 Technical Specification; Packet based convergence layer”).
European patent application EP 01114694.1 filed on Jun. 19, 2001 by the Applicant describes a process of linking several communication buses using wireless communication networks or radio networks. This application describes communication devices capable of wireless dialog or radio devices called “wireless boxes” which perform the portal function between a wired IEEE 1394 network and a Hiperlan 2 wireless communication network. One of the features of these devices is their operation in pairs. In effect, a given radio device can communicate wirelessly only with one other radio device designated as its associate; for this, each radio device knows an identifier specific to its associate which enables it to distinguish the latter from all the others. In European patent application EP 01114694.1, the identifier specific to each radio device is a static address called EUI-64 stored permanently in read-accessible memory by any other peripheral required by the document “IEEE 1394-1995 Standard for a High Performance Serial Bus”.
The simplest way of implementing this association of two radio devices is “by construction” during fabrication, each device receives a unique identification number (for example the EUI-64 address). At the same time, each device receives the identification number of its associate (it is retained in a memory such as a flash memory for example). The two radio devices will be capable of interchanging these numbers using their wireless communication protocols and thus be able to carry out wireless communications exclusively with their associate.
This procedure however has some disadvantages:                the two associates can never be separated; they cannot be used one without the other (the problem arises, for example, at the time of a repair or of the destruction of one of the two devices);        if one and the same user possesses two pairs of radio devices, he must then mark each of them differently in order to differentiate them when the network is completely reinstalled.        
One aim of the invention is to propose a communication device capable of wireless dialog comprising:                means of wireless communication with other communication devices capable of wireless dialog designated as being its associates;        means for communicating with the devices connected to a wired network;        
and characterized in that it comprises:                means for establishing a modifiable association with other communication devices capable of wireless dialog.        
In what follows, use will be made of the term “radio device” already explained previously to designate such devices.
Another aim of the invention is to propose a modifiable method of associating radio devices as described above, making it possible, in the event of separation of the initially associated devices, to create a new association with any other device of the same type as the one previously described. This method of association also makes it possible to modify an initial association of a radio device with no radio device, this gives a first association to the device. Initially, this method can be applied to two devices only.
Thus, the present invention concerns a method of associating radio devices as described above, characterized in that this association is modifiable by connecting at least two of the radio devices to be associated.